Street-box for water



(No Model.)

A. H. AUSTIN. STREET BOX FOR WATER, GAS, &c.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALEXANDER H. AUSTIN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

STREET-BOX FOR WATER, GAS, 800.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent; No. 520,176, dated May 22, 1894.

Application filed May 12, 1893. Serial No. 473,981. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER H. AUSTIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ohicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Street-Boxes for WVater, Gas, 850., of which the followingis a specification.

A difficulty encountered in the use of the so-called street-box employed as a housing for stop-cocks, and water, gas and electric-light meters, consists in the accessibili y of theinterior of the housing to the surface-water in the ground, which freezes in cold weather, and at all times carries dirt into the housing, in either case tending to impair the housed mechanism.

One of the objects of my improvement is to render the box, as a meter housing, not only water-tight but also practically air-tight, to an extent, at least, which shall adequately confine a body of air withinit to afiord an insulating envelope for the meter that shall enable it to be set in the box within such a short distance from the top of the latter as to permit the meter-register to be readily accessible for reading it on removing the box-cover; the water-tight construction excluding surface-water and the matter carried with it which, if admitted, would settle over the meter-register and impair or destroy its legibility.

A further object of my improvement is to provide an especial construction of cover for the box, whereby it shall be rendered watertight at the top as well as at the bottom, and which shall assure, in co-operation with the tight base, the desired degree of air-tight quality to the meter-housing.

Hy further object is to provide a generally improved construction of box of the kind referred to.

As I design my improvement particularly for use as a meter-box, I so hereinafter describe it, in the main, and show it as such in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a view in-vertical sectional elevation of my improved meter-box; and Figs. 2 and 3 are, respectively, a top and a bottom plan view of the cover.

A is the box or housing, which is preferably made of metal by casting and should be of the common general tubular shape of other such boxes adapting it to be set in the ground like them. The box is closed or sealed at its base, the bottom B being, by preference, particularly for the sake of convenience in casting, formed as a separable flanged part to be bolted to a base-flange r on the box, and the joint being made tight by an interposed gashot g, which may be of leather.

0 and C are pipes (as for water) or cond uits extending upward into the box through its bottom 13 (without however leaving any objectionable space about them in the bottom) to a height therein at which it is desirable to set a meterD for convenience inreading it through the top, say fifteen to eighteen inches below the latter. The pipe 0 is shown as containing a form of stop-cockp having connected with its handle a rod 19' extending upward in the box into conveniently accessible position to be manipulated through the upper end of the box for controlling the cock, by removing the cover E, hereinafter described.

The meter D, which may involve any suitable or well-known construction, and be a water or a gas meter, or even an electric-light meter, depending on the particular use for which the box is designed, is supported at the upper end of the pipes O and C, which would communicate through it in the usual manner of a water-meter with the water-supply; the registering face of the meter being on its top, and thus subject to convenient inspection through the upper end of the box.

At its upper end, the box A is shown expanded, to form the head A and somewhat thickened, as represented, and provided with an internal horizontal flange n, whence, at two diametrically opposite parts of the inner wall of the head, they slant in-parallel directions, as shown at as and x, the slant at a: terminating preferably at a horizontal plane somewhat below the part at, which should slant continuously throughout, the termination of the part or being preferably vertical or approximately so. Between the parts w and w the walls of the head may be, and preferably are, vertical.

The cover E, which should be flat as to its top-portion, has a dependent flange m which fits inside the head A and conforms to the same, seating against a gasket 0, (formed preferably of rubber) on the flange n. The shape of the flanged covertends to cause it to wedge itself in its seat; and it is removably fastened in place by a screw m passed obliquely through it into the part wot the head A.

With the tight bottom, the box A is rendered water-tight, and with the cover closely fitting in its place, the box is also suflicieutly air-tight, whereby the air it contains is confined within it and insulates the meter sulficiently to protect itagainst frost, thus adapting the box to accomplish my second-named object.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In combination, a street-box comprising a tubular housing tightly closed at its lower end, and having a cover tightly closing it at its upper end but removable and alfording, by its removal, free access to the interior of the box through said end, a meter supported in the box near its upper end, an inlet-pipe leading upward into the box through its baseportion to one side of the meter and an outlet-pipe leading downward in the box through its base-portion from the discharge-side of the meter, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

' 2. In combination, a street-box Ahaving a head A provided with an internal flange 'n and inclining thence correspondingly upward at two diametrically opposite parts a: and a:', and a cover E having a flange x conforming to the inner circumference of the said head to seat on the flange n and adapted to be fastened in place by a screw m, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. A water-and-air-tight meter-box A comprising, in combination, a housing provided with a separable bottom B having a water- 40 tight junction with the base of the housing and with a head A formed with an internal flange 'n and inclining thence correspondingly upward at two diametrically opposite parts wand w, a cover E having a flange x conforming to the inner circumference of the said head to seat on a gasket on the flangen and fastened in place by a screw m, pip C and 0' leading through the said bottom!!!)- ward into the housing, and a meter D con- 0 nected with the pipes and supported in the housing, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

ALEXANDER H. AUSTIN.

In presence of L. P. HOPKINS, JOHN WILLEY. 

